Her island, too, had been home to a saint: Saint Jacob Netsvetov, one of Alaska’s five other Orthodox saints. Marii Swetzof, of Atka, gets a ride on the Kuskokwim River toward Kwethluk on June 19.

Now, after an elaborate ceremony in her village of about 800 people in southwestern Alaska, she is the first female Orthodox saint from North America, officially known as “St. Olga of Kwethluk ...

The Orthodox Church in America has its first female saint from North America. Hundreds of pilgrims joined several bishops in an elaborate ceremony to canonize St. Olga Michael in her remote home ...

Now, after an elaborate ceremony in her village of about 800 people in southwestern Alaska, she is the first female Orthodox saint from North America, officially known as “St. Olga of Kwethluk ...

Worshippers fill St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Kwethluk, Alaska, on June 19, 2025, for the canonization ceremony of Matushka Olga Michael, who became the first female Orthodox saint in North ...

Now, after an elaborate ceremony in her village of about 800 people in southwestern Alaska, she is the first female Orthodox saint from North America, officially known as “St. Olga of Kwethluk ...

When the bishops of the Orthodox Church in America authorized St. Olga’s canonization in 2023, there was talk of moving her body to Anchorage as a more accessible location.